Hueco Tanks III : East Mountain

Our 3rd day climbing at Hueco, 2nd day with a guide, we parked and hiked in towards the Mescalaro Canyon from the Pond parking. This day was a perfect day. Weather in the 70s with no winds!

Warm up climbs were on the Kid's Stuff boulder, southeast of the Warm Up Roof boulder.

Various warm up climbs on Kid's Stuff boulder are Tiger Beat V1, Juvenile Offender V0, Jiffy Lube V0+, Young Guns V4, and Greasy Kid Stuff V4.

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The Sakurada clan scattered along Kid's Stuff.

Next on the list today was to hit Roger's project climb, Dragonfly V5, located on Hardman Rock boulder, South Dragon's Den. Dragonfly was much harder than expected. It is quite finger intensive with some big moves, and the foot holds are small along the rail. Once you reach the arete, the scare factor (at least for me) kicks in. I didn't make it that far. Ryan was the only one that completed it on his second try. Unfortunately I didn't video that one. On his first try, he just missed the critical heel hook position and came off.

After Dragonfly, we went to scout a future project for Ryan, UltraMega V8. Located on Backdoor/Homeboy boulder, between Dragon's Den and the Dark Heart.

Ryan figured out the sequence and moves for the first 1/3rd of the climb easily on the first try.

It took me a handful of tries just to figure out the starting move.

The video above highlights what actually happens when we "work" a challenging climb. It's about figuring out how to do each movement.. strength, body position, push/pull of certain muscles, twisting, etc. The beta that works for one person may not work for another. Rock climbing is like a puzzle, and the fun aspect of it is figuring out the puzzle with friends - working together, trying different moves, and laughing at each other too. Pure natural fun in the simplest form!

No video proof, but I have a photo proof that I finally made the first move at least twice out of my many attempts!

While the adults were playing down low in the cave, the kiddos were climbing and playing on the rocks above the cave.

It is so dusty and dry in Hueco, dessert environment, Emilia and I had to keep our hair tied so it wouldn't get too tangled.

I did a pretty decent job on her french braids!

Liam finds a climb to climb on.

Emilia mimics how to be a good spotter, except for the sticks in her hands...

After thoroughly exhausted by UltraMega, we moved onto climbs in The Dark Heart, at the Something Different boulders. Ryan and Brandon worked on Something Different V8. Roger and I worked on the Swirl Wall V3.

Roger on Swirl Wall V3.

The height was my nemesis again as I failed to go higher up, but isn't this wall so unique and pretty?!

Roger handles it smoothly! See how precise and controlled his movements are..


Ryan on Something Different V8.

The kids amazingly had an abundance of energy as they continued climbing and playing well into this later afternoon.

By the end of today, I think we were all tired. Hueco has so many interesting climbs to explore... but the fingers are raw and the muscles are fatigued. One more day of exploration! Still not enough...

Pre-Climbing - El Paso Zoo
Climbing Day 0
Climbing Day 1
Climbing Day 2

Hueco Tanks II : East Spur & East Mountain

Day 1 of our guided tour started at the East Spur and finish at the East Mountain. Our guide, Brandon, was seriously the best guide ever. With a calm disposition and extensive knowledge of the climbs, he provided helpful beta, an extra spotter, and extra crash pad.

Day 1, again had severe wind advisory, with some of the weather sites stating gusts were up to 60+mph. Having a guide was definitely valuable since Brandon knew of areas that were more protected from the winds.

From the parking lot of the campgrounds, we hiked in through the Tabloid Pass in the direction of East Spur.



For warm-up, Brandon brought us to an area of wind-protected boulders (Not definitive on the exact boulder.. but I think it's The Beehives?) with a bunch of easy climbs, several V0s, V1s, a V3, and also an overhung V6. The kids were just as excited as us to get climbing.

Here are Emilia and Liam both climbing a V0.

Even the easy rated V0/V1 climbs felt a level more difficult than the V0/V1 ratings at the gym.

Here I am working the V3, all good except for the top out. Still sketched by big movement at the height of the top out.

Ryan and Roger have no problem with the top out. Ryan's send:


E just hanging out.

Next we continued across the Tabloid Pass and to the East Spur Maze (southeast). We re-warmed up on some easy routes on the 10ft Wall --> Clumsy Plumber, V0 and Udder Destruction, V1 and a few climbs on Dihedral Rock --> The Flexin' Texan, V1 and worked the main focus climb here, Jigsaw, V5.

Roger working the crimpy start of Jigsaw.

Check out Ryan's half crimp!

While we climbed, the kids were playing really well of imaginative play with the surroundings. At times they were taking food orders and "cooking" for us with the dirt, rocks, sticks. Other times, they took our shoes and lined them up, and proceeded to sell shoes. Here, they were playing superheros and wanted me to take photos of their superhero poses. Notice their "aprons" are on from their previous "cooking" play. =)

Our fingers could only handle working Jigsaw for a finite amount of tries. Crimps are hard on the finger joints. We moved on to scope out one of Ryan's potential future projects, Javelina V8, on the northwest section of the East Spur, on The Bomb Boulder.

Interesting side fact, Javelina, is the name of a wild pig, aka skunk pig or peccary, that lives in Hueco Tanks. Brandon and Roger actually spotted one while we were hiking, but the pig hid before the rest of us could catch a glimpse.

Ryan's first go on Javelina and makes great progress!

Javelina is also one of the projects Brandon is working on.


Hueco Tanks park closes at 6pm. That is, all cars that plan on coming (campers) or going (day visitors) need to be in or out of the park by 6pm. The gate does not re-open until 8am the next morning. We had just enough time to hike over and check out one more climb for the day. A hike away, was my objective project of this trip, Moonshine Roof, V4, located near the middle-southern part of East Mountain.

By this time of the day, the winds were howling and our fingers were tender. It took a couple of tries to figure out the start of Moonshine Roof, as it is not an easy start. There is a small nub to place your left foot, and then a toe hook for the right foot that was better suited for taller people. The first move is a power core move to a nice jug, but quite reachy. I surprisingly had no problems with the start or the roof portion to the surf board. The moves out of the surf board though was again reachy and I couldn't figure out short person beta to continue on. =P

Roger though, crushed it! It was the end of the day, we were tired, but he gave it max effort. With mad gusting of winds, Roger even did the full top out.

Check out Roger's send of Moonshine Roof.


Perfect way to end the first of the guided days...

(Day 2 To Be Continued in Next Post..)

Pre-Climbing - El Paso Zoo
Climbing Day 0
Climbing Day 1
Climbing Day 2

Hueco Tanks I : Intro & North Mountain

Hueco Tanks is known for being one of the best spots in the world, top-notch for bouldering (rock climbing), and a desired destination of ours for a while. But it is not a short trip, and takes a bit of effort for us to get there especially with kids in tow. In the past, weather, time, and misc things just didn't align for a trip to Hueco... until now. We had our first family adventure to this bouldering Mecca and an amazing natural playground of Hueco Tanks.

View from Atop of northeast side of North Mountain

Hueco Tanks is not only a first class bouldering spot, but also a very unique and sacred historical place with many remnants of prehistoric life. There are historical artifacts, petroglyphs, and unique plants and wildlife. Because of the fragility of this place, there are rules to follow and a limited number of visitors are allowed. The North Mountain is the only self-guided area with a limit of 70 people a day. The East and West Mountains are only accessible on guided tours.

Prior to our trip, all the reservations for North Mountain were already taken, and so we arranged 3 days worth of guided tours for the East and West Mountains. To add to the fun factor of this adventure, our trusty climbing friend, Roger, decided at the last minute to come out and join us for the guided days!

We arrived in El Paso a day and a half prior to the tours. So on Day 0 (pre tour day) we headed out bright and early to line up at the park entrance in hopes of scoring a walk-on spot for the North Mountain. I believe they have 60 reservations and leave 10 spots open for first-come-first-serve walk ons. Luckily this is end of the climbing season at Hueco so there are less people, and we were first in line (~7am) before the gates opened at 8am. We easily scored the 4 walk-on spots. Once we were in, I packed us all snacks and a sandwich to put in our daypacks, grabbed our crash pads, and off we went to hike up and spend the day in the North Mountain.

Day 0 : North Mountain

Climbing outdoors is very different than the indoor gyms. The rocks are sharper and harsher on the hands. The route to the top is not clearly marked or defined, and there can be many factors that affect one's mental aspect - the height, weather/wind, surrounding fall area.. whether the landing zone is flat or angled or if there are boulders in the way, and there is limited fall protection.. aka only the crash pads that we carry with us. Day0 and Day1 were both high wind advisory days, with gusts up to 35mph.

Ryan has been to Hueco many many times in the past, so lucky us, he's an old pro at knowing the climbs. Day 0 was more of a warm-up day for me to get my bearings. Ryan took me to try out a classic problem Nobody Gets Out Here Alive, V2. No photos, but the key tip that helped me out during the crux move, which was the transition from the overhang portion to the slab, was to lock and press the right arm. First day jitters, I could do both portions separately, but didn't have enough left to put it together.

Ryan leading the way with reference from the guidebook.

Kiddies doing their thing.. creative play. =)

The winds were way too strong during the later half of the day to make it to another climb that we wanted to check out, Ghetto Simulator, V2, enough that it was hard for the adults to walk and the kiddos would have been easily blown away. Day 0 definitely clued me in that these climbs at Hueco are challenging and awesomely amazing.. and brutal on the hands and fingers! 3 more glorious days...

More to come...

Pre-Climbing - El Paso Zoo
Climbing Day 0
Climbing Day 1
Climbing Day 2

Promotion!

Today was a great day at BJJ. Emilia has been dedicated and worked hard to learn and grow in judo and jiujitsu.

She had her first belt promotion/ceremony today! Moving from a White Belt, earning stripes along the way, to now being a new fledgling Yellow-White belt.

I asked her how she felt getting her new belt, and her response was "shy." Happy and shy. =) I guess it is being in front of a lot of people, clapping and cheering for her. And then she needs to go down the line, respectfully bow and shake hands with all the black belt senseis.

A special thing the kids witnessed too, was Sensei Paulo getting his promotion. Sensei has been a black belt for the past 28 years, and today he was promoted to what he calls, the last belt he will ever receive, the red-white belt.

Sensei also had a great talk about how the stripes are just regular tape that you can buy from Home Depot. A belt is just a belt you can order online. But to those that practice and put in their hard work, their effort.. each achievement is about the cumulation of their hard work, effort, wins and loses, and skills and experience that the belt/stripes are symbolic of. That's something that one cannot simply buy, so be proud of where you are at, with each and every achievement.

Sensei, of course, was emotional, as this is his life's work and passion. Not sure the kids really understand all that much at this age, but I think it is great for them to see their Sensei getting promoted and re-iterate his dedication towards the sport and development for future generations.

After the ceremony, E with her new belt.

And her official promotion certificate.

The BJJ familia, group photo.

Super proud of E and celebrating the moment today, but back to consistent hard work and dedication. Yellow-white belts will definitely now be more challenging for Emilia to spar with, but open up more opportunities to learn and hone her skills more. At the same time, I'm hoping that Liam will get that spark of understanding that will help him grow. Emilia knows what this is all about.. you can see her observing and processing during practice. Liam.. it is still fun and games. He has improved since the early days though, there is definitely less lying on the mats now.